One  hundred  and  twenty  copies  printed  on  Holland 
paper,  and  ten  on  Japan. 


1.Q6E1U7S    FAYXE, 

X«tns  Tindefor.MDCCXXXIX.  denatiw  Londiii: MDCTLXXXXVII. 

ffrapbtcam  sofrrtrsBIBLIOPEGI  MvnMo'i'riwv  mrrrts BJBLIOPOLA  <ir#it._ 


ROGER  PAYNE  JN  HIS  WORKSHOP. 


ROGER    PAYNE 

AND  HIS  ART 

A  SHORT  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  LIFE 
AND  WORK  AS  A  BINDER 


BY 

WILLIAM   LORING  ANDREWS 


NEW-YORK 

PRINTED  AT  THE  DE  VINNE  PRESS 
1892 


INSCRIBED,  IN    RECOGNITION 

OF      HIS      PREEMINENCE 

IN      THE      ART      OF 

BOOKBINDING 

IN  AMERICA, 

TO 

WILLIAM   MATTHEWS. 

o     o     o 

o     o 

o 


IW529834 


"  A  well  bound  book  is  neither  of  one  type,  nor 
finished  so  that  its  highest  praise  is  that  '  had  it  been 
made  by  a  machine  it  could  not  have  been  made  bet- 
ter/ It  is  individual ;  it  is  instinct  with  the  hand  of 
him  who  made  it ;  it  is  pleasant  to  feel,  to  handle,  and 
to  use  j  it  is  the  original  work  of  an  original  mind 
working  in  freedom  simultaneously  with  hand  and 
heart  and  brain  to  produce  a  thing  of  use,  which  all 
time  shall  agree  ever  more  and  more  also  to  call  '  a 
thing  of  beauty.'  " 

J.  COBDEN-SANDERSON. 


' 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 

Ik  JO  more  striking  evidence  can  be  seen  of 
1  V  the  influence  the  Grolier  Club  is  exerting 
upon  its  members,  and  to  some  extent  upon  book- 
lovers  outside  of  its  borders,  than  in  tbe  change 
that  has  taken  place  in  the  style  and  methods  of 
book-cottefting.  Informer  times,  it  was  sufficient 
for  the  collector  to  possess  any  copy — not  the 
copy  of  a  particular  edition.  Condition  was  not 
insisted  upon  so  long  as  possession  was  attained. 
This  can  easily  be  verified  by  any  one  who  will 
take  the  trouble  to  look  through  any  large  general 
library  formed  thirty  or  forty  years  ago.  It  will 
be  at  once  apparent  that  the  niceties  of  clean  copies, 
uncut  edges,  fine  and  appropriate  bindings,  were 
not  thought  of,  and  that  while  here  and  there  might 
be  found  a  treasure  from  some  of  the  old-time 
printers  and  binders,  yet  after  all  it  was  but  a 


chance  acquisition  and  not  there  as  the  result  of  a 
carefully  thought  out  plan.  All  this  is  changing. 
The  collector  of  the  present  day  is,  from  the  force 
of  circumstances,  if  for  no  higher  and  better  rea- 
son, compelled  to  become  more  and  more  of  a 
Specialist.  Each  one  must  confine  himself  to  the 
period  or  particular  department  of  literature  that 
appeals  most  strongly  to  his  taste  or  fancy,  and 
then  strive  to  make  his  collection  in  all  respects  as 
complete  as  possible. 

It  is  this  among  other  valuable  lessons  that  the 
Grolier  Club  has  taught  its  members  by  its  ex- 
hibitions, leclures,  and  publications.  This  pre- 
dominating influence  has  been  felt  even  by  our 
older  and  better-known  collectors. 

The  present  sketch  of  Roger  Payne,  which  it  is 
a  pleasure  as  well  as  an  honor  to  introduce  to 
those  who  are  the  fortunate  possessors  of  the  limited 
number  issued,  owes  its  origin  largely  to  the  f aft 
above  stated. 

The  author,  having  become  possessed  of  a  few 
characteristic  Specimens  of  Roger  Payne's  work, 
was  led  to  study  his  effecls  and  methods,  and  in 
the  end  became  a  noted  coUeclor  as  well  as  the  en- 


thusiastic  admirer  his  monograph  shows  him  to 
be.  The  following  essay  is  the  result  of  careful 
study  and  minute  examination  of  all  that  could 
be  discovered  regarding  Roger  Payne's  life  and 
work,  and  the  opinion  may  safely  be  advanced 
that  it  contains  att  that  is  known  of  that  singular, 
erratic,  but  withal  artistic  character.  For  those 
who  are  not  fortunate  enough  to  own  the  original 
print  of  Roger  Payne  at  work  in  his  garret — 
showing  him  a  t(  thing  of  rags  and  tatters,"  indeed, 
and  very  touching  in  its  pathos — the  frontispiece 
will  possess  great  interest.  TJje  plates  of  bindings 
have  been  most  successfully  reproduced  from  the 
books  themselves  by  Mr.  Edward  Bierstadt,  who  has 
employed  his  well-known  artotype  process  to  give 
an  exact  facsimile  in  gold  and  colors  of  the  volumes 
as  they  are.  As  far  as  known,  this  is  the  first 
attempt  in  this  country  to  reproduce  bindings  in 
color  by  this  process;  and  it  must  be  conceded 
that  they  preserve  more  closely  the  characteristics 
of  the  books  themselves  than  many  of  the  more 
highly  wrought  but  idealised  plates  of  bindings 
that  are  so  common  nowadays. 

With  these  t( forewords,"  this  booklet  is  left  to 

9 


the  "courteous  reader,"  with  merely  a  pause  to 
say  that  if  he  derives  one  half  the  amount  of  plea- 
sure in  reading  that  the  author  had  in  writing, 
there  will  be  pleasure  enough  and  to  sj>are. 


BEVERLY   CHEW. 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 

PORTRAIT  OF  ROGER  PAYNE       Frontispiece 

FACSIMILE  OF  BILL  FOR  BINDING  WATTS'S 

VIEWS faces  page  27 

BINDINGS  : 

LA  PUCELLE.     Paris,  1656 "          13 

ELZEVIR  LIVY  OF  1634 17 

"      PLAUTUS  OF  1652,  showing  the 

wide  inside  joint  .    ...  18 

ENSIGNS  OF  HONOUR.    Oxford,  1682  .  25 

OUTSIDE  COVER  OF  WATTS'S  VIEWS     .  "26 

INSIDE           "                 "           "      .    .  "         27 
NORTHUMBERLAND    HOUSEHOLD  BOOK. 

London,  1770 29 

THE  HOLY  BIBLE.    Edinburgh,  1715  .  31 

PSALMS.     Brady  &  Tate,  1716     ...  "          35 


LA  PUCELLE. 
M.  CHAPELAIN,  PARIS,    1656. 


ROGER  PAYNE  AND  HIS  ART. 


HE  story  of  the  life  of  Roger 
Payne,  the  most  noted  Eng- 
lish binder  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  is  unfortunately  the 
common  one  of  many  men 
of  genius.  It  is  the  history  of  a  man 
generously  endowed  by  nature  with  the 
inventive  faculty  of  mind,  and  possessed  of 
a  high  degree  of  manual  skill  in  his  handi- 
craft, but  of  an  entirely  thriftless  disposition 
and  most  irregular  habits  of  life.  The  pic- 
ture presented  is  one  of  days  and  nights 
devoted  to  patient,  painstaking  labor  amidst 
surroundings  of  wretchedness  and  squalor, 
succeeded  by  long  periods  of  idleness  and 
dissipation,  the  scene  closing,  when  he  was 
hardly  past  the  prime  of  life,  with  a  lonely 


T^pger  "Payne 

death  in  a  comfortless  garret  in  Duke's 
Court,  St.  Martin's  Lane. 

It  is  nevertheless  the  history  of  a  man 
who,  notwithstanding  these  serious  hin- 
drances to  his  success,  stands  foremost  in  the 
ranks  of  English  bookbinders  —  the  foun- 
der of  a  purely  English  style  of  decoration 
for  the  covers  of  books,  one  which  has  re- 
ceived for  nearly  a  century  since  he  died  that 
sincerest  form  of  admiration  and  approval 
shown  by  imitation.  From  the  few  ex- 
amples of  binding  distinctively  English  in 
character  that  existed  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  he  formed  by  the  force 
of  his  taste  and  genius  a  style  of  ornamenta- 
tion of  his  own,  which  for  beauty  and  sim- 
plicity of  design  and  true  artistic  feeling  in 
execution  has  yet  to  be  equaled  by  any 
other  binder  of  the  English  school. 

Roger  Payne  was  born  in  Windsor  For- 
est, in  the  year  1739,  and  first  found  em- 
ployment with  Pote,  a  noted  bookseller  at 
Eton;  thence  he  migrated  to  London,  and 
entered  the  service  of  Thomas  Osborne,  a 
dealer  in  book  rarities  in  Gray's  Inn.  This 


and  His 


connection  proved  a  very  transient  one,  and 
he  is  next  found  established  in  business  for 
himself  by  the  kindness  and  benevolence  of 
a  namesake,  Thomas  Payne,  whose  shop  at 
the  Mews  Gate  was  for  half  a  century  (1740 
to  1790)  a  much-frequented  resort  of  the 
learned  men,  authors,  and  book-collectors, 
"the  Farmers,  Cracherodes,  Roxburghes,  and 
Spencers  of  the  day."  He  remained  the 
friend  and  benefactor  of  Roger  through  life, 
notwithstanding  the  trials  to  which  his  pa- 
tience was  subjected  by  the  dissolute  and  ir- 
regular habits  of  the  man  he  was  constantly 
befriending.  The  frontispiece,  which  is  a 
veritable  portrait  of  Roger  Payne  in  his  di- 
lapidated and  scantily  furnished  work-room, 
is  copied  from  an  engraving  which,  as  the 
inscription  shows,  was  made  at  the  expense 
of  Thomas  Payne.1  Here  he  executed  his 

1  Thomas  Payne,  "  Honest  Tom  Payne."  He  commenced  his 
career  in  Round  Court  in  the  Strand  opposite  York  buildings,  where 
he  was  an  assistant  to  his  elder  brother,  Oliver  Payne,  with  whom 
originated  (it  is  said)  the  idea  and  practice  of  printing  catalogues  — 
his  first  (T.  P.)  catalogue  is  dated  July  29,  1740.  His  little  shop 
[in  the  shape  of  an  L]  was  the  first  that  obtained  the  name  of 
a  literary  coffee-house  in  London,  from  the  knot  of  literati  that 
resorted  to  it.  —  Dibdin's  Decameron. 

15 


T^pger  Tayne 

many  beautiful  bindings,  often  obliged  by 
his  necessities  to  make  for  himself  out  of 
iron  the  tools  which  he  required. 

The  materials  used  by  Roger  Payne  as 
coverings  for  his  bindings  were  almost  with- 
out exception  either  straight-grained  morocco 
or  russia  leather,  the  first  as  notable  for  its 
durability  as  the  latter  is  for  the  lack  of  that 
quality.1  His  decided  preference  was  for 
a  straight-grained  morocco  of  a  bright  red 
color,  which  supplied  him  with  a  rich 
background  for  gold  tooling;  on  this  he 
placed  an  ornament,  generally  simple  in  char- 
acter, but  always,  as  he  informs  us  in  his  vo- 
luminous bills,  intended  to  be  appropriate  to 
and  in  harmony  with  the  character  of  the 
book  it  covered.  In  using  a  border  of  an- 
tique shields  and  crescents,  he  tells  us  he 
adopted  them  as  ornaments  because  they 
were  in  the  head-piece  of  the  preface  of  the 
book,  and  therefore  he  considered  them  suit- 
able. On  the  doublure  of  a  binding  on  a 

1  Russia  leather  is  one  of  the  most  undesirable  materials  that  can 
be  used  for  a  binding.     In  a  very  short  space  of  time  it  loses  its  life 
and  becomes  hard  and  brittle,  breaking  away  at  the  joints  j  it  also 
fades  in  color  more  quickly  than  any  other  kind  of  leather. 
16 


'I  LIVII  HISTORIA 

ELZEVIR,   1634. 


and  His  </lrt 

vellum  copy  of  the  "  Aldine  Anthologia,"  he 
placed  two  lyres,  the  upper  one  inverted,  and 
in  the  center  a  figure  apparently  intended  to 
represent  a  Triton  blowing  his'  conch-shell. 
It  is  difficult  sometimes  to  understand  clear- 
ly the  meaning  of  his  emblematic  tooling ; 
when,  however,  his  bill  accompanies  the 
book,  he  leaves  no  room  for  conjecture,  but 
ascribes  a  meaning  and  significance  to  almost 
every  line  he  has  put  upon  it. 

In  his  less  elaborate  work  the  predom- 
inating style  is  a  delicate  tracery  of  running 
vines  and  leaves,  interspersed  with  numerous 
small  dots,  stars,  and  circlets  of  gold.  This 
he  calls  "  studded  work."  The  result  is  pecu- 
liarly rich  and  effective.  The  backs  are  often 
covered  with  this  style  of  decoration,  the  sides 
being  left  quite  unadorned  or  with  an  orna- 
ment confined  to  the  border,  leaving  the  cen- 
ter blank.  Inside  joints  are  almost  invariably 
found,  often  very  wide  and  lavishly  tooled 
and  gilded,  the  outside  of  the  book  in  these 
cases  being  treated  very  simply. 

His  most  common  style  of  binding  is  a 
richly  tooled  and  gilded  back,  and  a  simple 
17 


T^pger  Tayne 

line  or  two  upon  the  sides,  with  occasionally 
the  addition  of  a  bit  of  his  characteristic  foli- 
age tooling  in  the  corners.  He  seldom  finished 
a  book  in  full  doublure  or  with  silk  linings 
and  fly-leaves  in  the  style  of  Thouvenin  and 
Bozerian,  and  there  is  no  example,  as  far  as 
the  writer  is  aware,  of  his  work  in  mosaic. 
Many  of  his  bindings,  especially  in  russia 
leather,  are  partly  blind-tooled  and  partly 
gilt,  with  pleasing  effect.  Every  impression 
of  a  tool,  elaborate  or  simple,  is  undoubtedly 
the  work  of  his  own  hands. 

The  end-papers  used  by  Roger  Payne 
have  been  more  severely  criticized  than  any 
other  peculiarity  in  his  binding.  They  are 
almost  invariably  of  a  plain  color,  with- 
out any  pattern,  and  often  purple,  for  which 
tint  he  appears  to  have  had  a  remarkable 
fondness;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that 
these  colors  frequently  form  a  disagreeable 
contrast  to  the  tone  of  the  outside  cover, 
and  have  the  further  disadvantage  of  a 
tendency  to  become  in  time  spotted  and 
discolored.  It  is  questionable,  however, 
whether  the  plain,  tinted  papers  were  not 
id 


PLAUTI  COM1EDI1E. 
ELZEVIR,    1652. 


and  His  */lrt 

preferable  to  the  marbled  ones  then  ob- 
tainable and  which  he  sometimes,  though 
rarely,  used,  for  they  were,  as  a  rule,  both 
crude  in  color  and  poor  in  design.  The 
figured  and  gilt  lining-papers  used  by  the 
French  binders  of  the  period,  though  very 
beautiful,  would  not  have  been  in  har- 
mony with  the  character  of  his  binding, 
and  he  never  made  use  of  them. 

Many  of  his  bindings  are  without  any 
tooling  whatever  save  a  plain  gold  line 
around  the  edge ;  but,  however  simple  the 
binding,  it  will  invariably  be  found  to  be 
put  together  in  an  artistic  and  workman- 
like manner.  There  appears  to  be  little 
force  in  the  criticism  that  his  boards  are 
too  thin;  they  are  thin  and  delicate,  but 
they  never  warp,  and  keep  their  place, 
firmly  secured  to  the  back.  What  advan- 
tage, then,  would  be  gained  by  having  more 
weight  and  substance  in  them  ? 

His  extreme  care  in  forwarding  is  well 

shown  by  the  fine  condition  in  which  many 

of  his  bindings  remain  to  the  present  time. 

Every  leaf,  as  he  tells  us  repeatedly  in  his 

19 


T^pger  Tayne 

bills,  was  most  firmly  and  securely  stitched 
separately  into  the  back,  the  silken  head- 
bands were  strongly  and  neatly  worked  in, 
and  the  greatest  care  was  exercised  that  the 
leaves  should  be  placed  squarely  and  true ; 
in  fact,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  binder  ever  at- 
tended with  such  painstaking  care  and  mi- 
nuteness to  all  the  small  details  of  his  work. 
In  a  copy  of  Tewrdannckh  (folio,  1517), 
bound  for  Mr.  Wodhull,  a  noted  collector 
of  the  last  century  (for  whom  Roger  Payne 
executed  many  bindings),  is  inserted  a  proof 
of  the  portrait  engraved  by  Harding,  shown 
in  the  frontispiece ;  a  reduced  copy  of 
this  print  will  also  be  found  in  Dibdin's 
"Decameron,"  Vol.  II.,  page  510.  The  en- 
graving of  this  portrait  is  remarkable  evi- 
dence of  the  estimation  in  which  Payne's 
work  was  held  by  the  book-lovers  of  the 
day,  when  we  remember  that  only  one  other 
engraved  portrait  of  a  bookbinder  exists — 
that  of  Charles  Lewis.  Even  of  the  great- 
est of  the  modern  French  binders,  Trautz, 
there  is  only  a  process-plate  print. 


and  His  </lrt 

The  binding  of  this  copy  of  Tewrdannckh, 
which  is  quite  simply  ornamented,  cost 
;£8.  As  Payne's  charges  were  most  moder- 
ate, much  of  this  amount  must  have  been 
the  cost  of  cleaning  and  repairing.  In  this 
part  of  his  work  he  was  assisted  by  a  Mrs. 
Weir,1  noted  for  her  skill  in  cleaning  and 
mending  injured  or  decayed  books.  She 
is  also  said  to  have  been  a  binder  of  books, 
somewhat  in  the  style  of  Roger  Payne's  plain 
work.  A  copy  of  Albertis's  "  Opus  prae- 
clarum  in  Amoris  Remedio,"  1417,  which 
came  from  the  White  Knights,  Hibberts, 
Marquis  of  Blandford,  and  Syston  Park 
collections,  is  said  to  be  a  specimen  of 
her  binding.  It  is  in  blue,  straight-grained 
morocco,  such  as  was  often  used  by  Payne, 
and  has  the  same  plain  colored  end-papers ; 

1  Mrs.  Weir  repaired  many  of  the  books  in  the  famous  library 
of  Count  McCarthy  at  Toulouse,  and  the  parchments,  vellums, 
etc.,  in  the  Record  Office  in  Edinburgh.  Her  chef-d'oeuvre  in 
the  art  of  restoration  is  said  to  be  a  copy  of  the  "  Faite  of  Arms 
and  Chivalrye,"  printed  by  Caxton,  sold  in  the  Roxburghe  Sale. 
Her  husband,  Richard  Weir,  was  taken  by  Payne  as  a  partner 
in  his  later  years  j  but  as  they  were  both  afflicted  with  a  too  great 
fondness  for  the  ale-cup,  they  soon  quarreled  and  separated. 


T^pger  Tayne 

the  only  decoration  on  the  side  is  a  bor- 
der line  of  gold,  with  the  arms  of  the  Mar- 
quis of  Blandford  in  the  center. 

The  closest  imitator  of  Roger  Payne's 
plain  bindings  was  Kalthoeber;  his  elabor- 
ate tooling  he  never  attempted  to  copy. 
The  note  of  caution  sounded  so  often  in  the 
catalogues  of  London  booksellers,  as  to  the 
danger  of  being  deceived  by  imitations  of 
Roger  Payne's  binding,  is  hardly  warranted 
by  the  facts  of  the  case.  Any  one  who 
has  become  familiar  with  genuine  examples 
of  his  work  is  in  little  danger  of  being 
deceived  by  an  imitation,  so  distinctive 
and  unmistakable  is  his  style. 

His  bindings  bear  no  signature.  That 
practice  had  not  yet  been  adopted  in  Eng- 
land, and  only  occasionally  in  France  do  we 
find  the  binders  of  the  eighteenth  century 
making  use  of  a  small  printed  slip  ("  eti- 
quette "),  with  the  name  and  address,  inside 
the  cover. 

In  place  of  a  signature  we  have,  how- 
ever, many  of  his  bills.  They  are  full  of 
quaintness  and  originality,  and  are  verbose 


and  His  </Irt 

i 

to  the  last  degree.  The  following  is  a  copy 
of  his  bill  for  binding  the  "^Eschylus" 
(Glasgow,  1795)  for  Lord  Spencer,  consid- 
ered to  be  the  finest  example  of  his  work- 
manship in  existence. 


,  Glasguae  MDCCXCV  Flaxman  Illus- 
travit  Bound  in  the  very  best  manner  sew'd  with 
strong  Silk,  every  Sheet  around  every  Band,  not  false 
Bands,  The  Back  lined  with  Russia  leather,  Cutt 
Exceeding  Large.  Finished  in  the  Most  Magnifi- 
cent Manner  Em-bordered  with  ERMINE  Expres- 
sive of  the  High  Rank  of  the  Noble  Patroness  of 
The  Designs  The  other  Parts  Finished  in  the 
most  elegant  Taste  with  small  Tool  Gold  Borders 
Studded  with  Gold  and  small  Tool  Panes  of  the 
most  Exact  Work.  Measured  with  The  Compasses. 
It  takes  a  great  deal  of  Time  making  out  the  differ- 
ent Measurements;  preparing  the  Tools;  and  making 
out  New  Patterns.  The  Back  Finished  in  Compart- 
ments with  parts  of  Gold  studded  Work  and  open 
Work  to  Relieve  the  Rich  close  studded  Work.  All 
the  Tools  except  Studded  points  are  obliged  to  be 
Workt  off  plain  first  —  and  afterwards  the  Gold 
laid  on  &  Worked  off  again.  And  this  Gold  Work 
requires  double  Gold  being  on  Rough  Grain'd  Mo- 
rocco The  Impressions  of  the  Tools  must  be  fitted 
&  coverM  at  the  bottom  with  Gold  to  prevent  flaws  & 
cracks.  £12>  12>  ° 


T^pger  Tdyne 


Fine  Drawing  Paper  for  Inlaying 
The  Designs.  5!  6<?  Finest  Pickt 
Lawn  Paper  for  Interleaving  The 
Designs,  i?  8?  |  i  yd.  &  a  half  of 
Silk.  ios.  64  Inlaying  the  Designs  at 
8<?  each— 32  DESIGNS,  £i.  i.  4. 
Mr.  Morton  adding  Borders  to  the 
Drawings. 


i    16  - 


7  - 


The  following  bill  is  inserted  in  a  copy 
of  Hey  don's  "  Harmony  of  the  World  "  (Lon- 
don), 1662,  bound  for  Dr.  Mosely,  and  tooled 
in  what  Payne  calls  the  "  Rosie  Crucian  taste  " 
and  the  "  Druid  taste,"  whatever  they  may 
be.  For  some  reason  this  binding,  although 
not  an  important  specimen,  appears  to  have 
been  a  noted  one,  and  a  copy  of  the  bill 
is  also  given  in  Dibdin's  "Decameron." 


Bound  in  the  very  best  Manner. 
°°k  sew'd  in  the  very  best 
manner  with  white  Silk  very  strong 
and  will  open  easy,  very  neat  &  strong 
Boards.  Fine  Drawing  paper  in- 
side staind  to  suit  ye  colour  of  ye 
Book.  The  outsides  Finished  in 
the  Rosie  Crucian  Taste  very  cor- 
rect measured  Work.  The  Inside  Finished  in  the 
Druid  Taste  with  Acorns  &  S  S  (vide  Stuckley's 


HARMONY 
OF  THE 
WORLD 

BY 

HEYDON 
LONDON 
MDCLXII. 


ENSIGNS  OF  HONOUR. 
WILLIAM  DUGDALE,  OXFORD,    l682. 


and  His 


ABURY).  Studded  with  Stars  &c  in  the  most 
magnificent  manner.  So  neat  elegant  &  Strong  as 
this  Book  is  Bound.  The  Binding  is  well  worth  13*. 
and  The  inlaying  The  frontispiece  Cleaning  &  Mend- 
ing is  worth  2S.  To  (Dr.  Mosely's)  great  goodness  I 
am  so  much  indebted  that  my  Gratitude  setts  the 
price  for  the  Binding  inlaying  Cleaning  &  Mending 
at  only  los.  6d. 

1796.  i8th  August  Rec'd  the  Contents  by  me. 
ROGER  PAYNE. 

This  bill  bears  his  autograph  signature, 
which  is  an  unusual  occurrence. 

In  one  of  his  bills  for  binding  "  Recre- 
ations for  Ingenious  Head  Pieces,"  sold  in 
the  Doctor's  library  in  1815,  he  indulges 
in  the  following  bit  of  original  verse,  his 
own  composition,  laudatory  of  his  beloved 
barley  broth  : 

But  history  gathers 

From  aged  forefathers 

That  ales  the  true  liquor  of  life 

Men  liv'd  long  in  health 

And  preserved  their  wealth, 

Whilst  Barley-Broth  only  was  rife. 

Most  of  the  bindings  in  Dr.  Mosely's 
library  were  probably  executed  by  Payne 
in  compensation  for  medical  advice. 


Ttyger  Tayne 

The  following  bill  for  binding  "Sandys' 
Travels,  MDCX,"  "Wheeler  and  Spon's 
Travels,  MDCLXXV,"  is  copied  here  as 
evidence  of  the  exceeding  care  taken  by 
Payne  in  repairing  and  forwarding  (with 
the  aid  undoubtedly  of  Mrs.  Weir)  the 
books  intrusted  to  him,  some  of  which 
must  have  been  in  an  all  but  hopeless 
state  of  dilapidation. 

Bound  in  the  very  best  Manner,  sewed  in  the 
Best  manner  with  Bands  outside  of  ye  Back,  Fine 
Drawing  Paper  for  flying  Leaves  at  ye  beg-yining  and 
end  of  the  Book.  Fine  dark  Coloured  Paper  inside 
&  Morocco  Joints  very  neat. 

The  Back  coverd  with  Russia  Leather  before  the 
outside  cover  was  put  on.  N.  B.  The  Common 
practise  of  Book-binders  is  to  Line  their  Books  with 
Brown  or  Cartridge  Paper,  the  Paper  Lining  splits 
and  parts  from  the  Backs  and  will  not  last  for  Time 
and  much  reading.  Bound  in  the  finest  Russia 
Leather  of  the  same  Colour  as  imported.  Parts  was 
staind  wanted  washing  and  cleaning,  which  I  have 
taken  particular  care  to  do,  to  make  the  Books  as 
fair  and  clean  as  I  possibly  could,  it  being  a  prin- 
cipal object  to  make  it  a  fine  copy.  Their  was  a 
great  many  torn  places,  which  1  mended  as  neat  as 
I  possibly  could  of  the  same  Colour'd  paper  as  the 
Books.  The  Prints  wanted  new  margins  to  all  of 


SEATS  OF  THE  NOBILITY   AND  GENTRY. 
W.   WATTS,   LONDON,    177Q. 


INSIDE  COVER  OF  WATTS'S  VIEWS. 


-  -^      *W  0- 

uvjfsrv*^  14-./4*.  iVffm  M-/fS&  /-tsrt- Sc^it* 

<?&,  uz*&.  <&*»£  ,^/<          :,  T: 

y/       si         C\  /} '-        // 


t 

A  \ 

f**S-       .^  6  £,„  ..„ 


••'-x  '//•>--  :  ^  j 

^//%/^-  <5^t^,,'  Vx-r^/ 


/^i^^^y^    , 


^  //7' 

"  '  -  X* 

™>    $""•   <•  ' 

p 


BILL  FOR  BINDING  WATTS'S  VIEWS. 
(SEE  NEXT  PAGE.) 


?«  f*A. 

UfJ 

Hny    I-'  / 

<**     .  t      *"    '  y         C 

^'^  *T^?    A 

,v  > 
fe^  > 

st .  •  -  ^ .  ^;  •> ;- ' 

/  ;  g  -/^p 

^  / 

'.  * 

. 

A  .;  ' 

li<$t  §  '  -'M«L     A/2  •> 


h: 


and  His  Jlrt 

them  except  2  or  3  for  the  old  margins  was  ragd 
and  staind.  I  have  taken  care  to  piece  the  margins 
very  neat  with  paper  of  the  same  Colour  and  sub- 
stance in  the  thickness  or  thiness  of  the  various 
Prints  as  I  passably  could,  took  a  great  deal  of  time. 
I  hope  I  have  been  earful  to  put  in  the  very  best 
impressions.  I  have  taken  care  not  to  beat  or  any 
ways  injure  the  Prints.  I  have  been  conscientiously 
carc-ful  in  all  parts  of  ye  Work.  j£i.  13.  o.  Dec.  1** 
1794.  Rec<?  the  Contents. 

Per  ROGER  PAYNE,  Book-binder. 

The  reproduction  opposite  is  a  facsimile 
of  a  very  beautiful  specimen  of  his  binding 
upon  a  large  quarto  volume,  "Watts's  Views 
of  the  Seats  of  the  Nobility."  A  facsimile 
of  his  bill  for  the  same  is  also  given. 

One  of  the  singular  pieces  of  good  for- 
tune that  sometimes,  although  rarely,  be- 
fall the  collector  of  books  is  illustrated  by 
an  experience  of  the  writer  some  years 
since. 

A  copy  of  the  "Northumberland  House- 
hold Book,"  bound  by  Roger  Payne,  was 
purchased  at  the  Stourhead  Library  sale 
in  1883.  No  bill  was  noted  in  the  cata- 
logue as  accompanying  the  book,  but  it 


T^pger  Tayne 

was  a  well-authenticated  binding  of  Roger 
Payne,  and  the  bill  itself  was  printed  in 
full  in  Clarke's  "  Repertorium  Bibliographi- 
cum."  Apparently  the  original  bill  had 
been  lost.  In  1888,  five  years  afterward, 
the  following  note  came  from  the  London 
agent : 

DEAR  SIR, 

One  of  the  people  at  Sotheby's  [the  old  and 
well  known  London  auction  house]  found  in  a  lot 
of  waste  paper  the  original  Roger  Paynes  bill  for 
binding  the  Northumberland  book  which  I  bought 
for  you  at  the  Stourhead  Library  Sale  &  feeling 
sure  that  you  would  like  to  put  it  into  the  book 
I  gave  him  a  reward  for  it  (10  shillings),  &  now 
enclose  it  to  you. 

Thus,  after  five  years  of  separation,  dur- 
ing which  this  little  slip  of  paper  had  been 
lying  unnoticed  on  the  dusty  floor  of  a 
London  auction-room,  it  and  the  book  to 
which  it  belonged  were  safely  brought  to- 
gether again. 


:ARL  OF  NORTHUMBERLAND'S  HOUSEHOLD  BOOK. 
LONDON,  1770. 


and  His  </lrt 


BILL   FOR   BINDING  THE   NORTHUMBERLAND 
HOUSEHOLD   BOOK. 


—  Bound  in  the  very  best  Manner 
THE  EARL  OF  in  Red  Morocco. 

NORTHUM-         No  false  Bands  but  Sew<?  in  the 

BERLAND'S      very    best    Manner   on    strong    & 

neat  Bands.     The  Back  lined  with 

HOUSEHOLD    Russia  Leather  under  the  Morocco 

—  BOOK         Covering.      Fine    Drawing    paper 

—  Colourd  to  suit  the  original  Colour 
BEGUN          of  the  Book  Inside  for  flying  leaves 

ANNO  and  very  neat  Morocco  Joints  in- 

DOMINI         side.     The   Outsides  Finished  in 
MDXII  an  elegant  Antiq /Taste  with  Bor- 

ders of  'S  'S  &  Laurel  Branch  an 
LONDON  Andq  Shield  &  Crescent  in  ye 
PRINTED  Borders.  The  Crescent  is  used  in 
MDCCLXX  the  Head  piece  of  ye  preface  which 

—  was  my  reason  for  using  it  in  the 
Back  &   Borders  being  suitable  to 
the  Book.     The  greatest  care  hath 
be  taken  to  preserve  the  margins. 

Gilt  leaves  not    Cutt.     2  leaves 

was  very  much  staind  at  ye  end 

of  the  Book  we  washed  them  very  £\.  i.  o 

carfully  and  they  are  now  very 

Clean. 


T^pger  Tayne 


BILL   FOR    BINDING  A   COPY   OF  LILLY'S  CHRIS- 
TIAN  ASTROLOGY,  NOW   IN   THE   LIBRARY 
OF  THE    GROLIER   CLUB. 

CHRISTIAN    ASTROLOGY    BY    LILLY. 
LONDON.     MDCLIX. 

Bound  in  the  very  best  manner,  sewd  in  the  very 
best  and  most  honest  manner  on  Bands,  outside. 
The  Book  being  very  thick  it  required  the  greater 
care  in  sewing  to  make  it  easy  and  not  fail. 

it  is  absolutely  a  very  Extra  Bound  Book.  I  hope 
to  be  forgiven  in  saying  so  &  unmatchable  Velum 
Headbands,  so  as  not  to  break  like  paper  rold  up 
Headbands. 

The  greatest  care  and  method  taken  to  make  this 
Book  as  good  a  Copy  as  my  hands  and  experience  of 
Work  was  able  to  do  the  Binding  s 

in  Russia  Quarto.  —  1 1  — 

Washing  &  taking  out  the  Writing 
Ink.     Washed  the  Whole  Book.  —6-6 

Cleaning  it  was  very  dirty  &  I  am 
certain  took  full  2  Days  Work.  The 
Frontispece  was  in  a  very  indif- 
ferent Condition  all  the  Writing 
Ink  is  taken  out  of  it  amended  &  >  —  6  — 
several  other  places  mended.  The 
greatest  care  hath  been  taken  of 
the  Margins.  Gilt. 

Leaves  not  Cutt. 


and  His  <Art 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  bindings  of 
Roger  Payne  is  upon  a  copy  of  "  The 
Holy  Bible"  printed  at  Edinburgh,  1715, 
now  in  the  possession  of  a  New-York 
collector.  It  has  more  than  an  ordinary 
interest  from  the  fact  of  its  having  been 
specially  bound  for  his  friend  Mr.  Thomas 
Payne,  and  has  his  initials  worked  in  the 
ornament  on  the  side.  This  binding  was 
copied  for  the  cover  of  the  first  publication 
of  the  Grolier  Club,  "The  Decree  of 
Starre-Chamber,"  the  letters  G.  C.  being 
substituted  for  T.  P.  The  original  bill  is 
inserted,  in  which  the  binder  says:  "The 
outsides  finished  in  the  richest  and  most 
elegant  taste,  richer  and  more  exact  than 
any  book  that  I  ever  bound." 

The  charge  for  binding  was  £\  18  o; 
for  mending  and  cleaning,  £o  3  6 ;  a  total 
of  ^2  i  6. 

Its  present  marketable  value  is  easily 
forty  times  this  sum. 

The  patrons  of  Roger  Payne  numbered 
all  the  noted  book-collectors  of  the  last 
century.  For  Earl  Spencer  he  bound  many 


T^pger  Tayne 

books,  notably  his  chef-d'oeuvre,  the  "JEs- 
chylus,"  previously  mentioned.  The  Beau- 
clerc,  Cracherode,  and  Stanley  collections 
also  contained  fine  specimens  of  his  work, 
as  did  also  that  of  Mr.  Wodhull,  the  well- 
known  classical  scholar  and  collector.  At 
the  sale  of  the  Wodhull  library  and  that  of 
the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  and  at  the  Syston 
Park  sale,  all  of  which  have  occurred  dur- 
ing the  past  eight  years,  the  principal  and 
almost  the  only  opportunities  have  been 
afforded  for  this  generation  of  collectors  to 
secure  specimens  of  Roger  Payne's  bind- 
ing. No  important  source  of  supply  ap- 
parently now  remains  excepting  the  improb- 
able one  of  the  library  at  Althorp  (Lord 
Spencer's)  coming  upon  the  market. 

Roger  Payne  died  in  a  little  room  in 
Duke's  Court,  St.  Martin's  Lane,  London, 
on  the  2oth  of  November,  1797.  In  this 
brief  sketch  of  his  life  and  work  it  is  not 
sought  to  prove  that  he  excelled  or  even 
equaled  in  artistic  sense  or  skilful  execu- 
tion the  famous  French  and  Italian  binders 
of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 


and  His 


The  French  book-collector  covets  no  Roger 
Payne  binding;  neither,  for  that  matter,  is 
he  much  interested  in  any  book  that  has  not 
something  Gallic  in  its  construction.  The 
catalogue  of  his  library  rings  the  changes  on 
La  Fontaine,  Moliere,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  circumscribed  list  of  great  French  au- 
thors, until  the  reiteration  becomes  weari- 
some. But  to  the  English  or  the  American 
collector  the  distinct  and  thoroughly  Anglo- 
Saxon  flavor  of  Roger  Payne's  work  is  pe- 
culiarly grateful  and  attractive  ;  it  is  more 
in  harmony  with  his  Chippendale  or  Shera- 
ton cabinet  than  the  bindings  of  Le  Gascon, 
Pasdeloup,  or  Duseuil,  charming  and  beau- 
tiful as  they  are.  An  incidental  advantage 
of  a  Roger  Payne  binding  is,  that  it  covers, 
as  a  rule,  cleaner  and  more  wholesome  litera- 
ture than  that  of  his  fellow-craftsmen  across 
the  Channel. 

The  annals  of  English  binders  preced- 
ing Roger  Payne  are  few  and  meager. 
The  Irish  monk  Dazius  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury illuminated  manuscripts  and  covered 
them  with  gorgeous  bindings  of  gold, 

33 


PSALMS  OF  DAVID. 
N.  BRADY,  LONDON,    iyi6. 


and  His  <Art 

more  representative  of  the  art  of  needle- 
work than  that  of  bookbinding. 

William  Caxton,  the  first  English  printer, 
and  his  immediate  successors,  Wynkyn  de 
Worde,  Pynson,  and  Machlinia,  may  be 
styled  the  printer-binders,  the  books  which 
they  printed  being  undoubtedly  bound  at 
the  press  before  they  were  offered  to  the  pub- 
lic for  sale,  probably  by  workmen  brought 
from  Germany,  France,  and  Flanders. 

Of  all  the  English  bindings  that  have 
come  under  the  writer's  observation,  the  one 
which  represents  a  style  by  which  Payne 
may  have  been  influenced  more  than  by  any 
other  is  upon  a  little  duodecimo  volume  of 
the  "Psalmes  of  David,"  printed  in  1716. 
It  is  ornamented  with  the  same  or  similar 
trailing  vines  and  leaves,  and  multitudinous 
dots  and  circlets,  so  much  employed  by 
Payne.  Although  akin  to  this  beautiful 
creation  of  his  nameless  predecessor,  Payne's 
work  is  never  an  imitation  of  it,  but  invari- 
ably bears  the  stamp  of  his  own  genius  and 
individuality. 

To  many  book-collectors  of  the  present 


T^pger  Tayne 

day  this  estimate  of  the  bibliopegic  skill 
of  Roger  Payne  may  appear  too  highly 
colored.  That  the  artistic  quality  of  his 
work  was  fully  recognized  and  his  bindings 
greatly  esteemed  by  the  collectors  of  the 
last  century  (the  formative  period  of  the 
finest  as  well  as  the  most  extensive  private 
libraries  of  England)  we  have  the  testi- 
mony of  John  Nichols,  the  "  indefatigable 
editor"  of  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine," 
who  wrote  of  him,  shortly  after  his  death, 
these  words  of  unstinted  praise  :  "  He  lived 
without  a  rival,  and  died,  it  is  feared,  with- 
out a  successor." 


14  DAY  USE 

DESK  FROM  WHICH 


Th«  book  is  du 


CBRARY 

^ed. 

ped  below. 


.General  Library 
University  ?f  Caligrn; 


Berkeley 


orma 


M529834 


